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Michael Clarke has shouldered some of the blame for Australia's seven wicket defeat to Pakistan on Saturday.

The Aussie captain accepted that the top order, himself included, had needed to push on after getting starts in the second ODI in Abu Dhabi.

Having won the first match in Sharjah, Australia made 248 after batting first at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, with Michael Hussey's 61 the highest score by any of their batsmen.

A number of other batsmen got into double figures, but could not break free from Pakistan's restrictive bowling, especially that of Saeed Ajmal.

The Pakistanis had little trouble chasing down the runs dispatching Australia's front-line bowlers for more than five per over.

The Aussies used eight bowlers in all, as they searched for answers but Clarke admitted it had been his side's failure with the bat that had brought about their downfall.

Disappointing

"It's disappointing I think as a top four batter, he said. "A big part of your role is to go on and make hundreds, make big scores and I've been as much to blame as anyone.

"I've got three starts now and haven't been able to go on, so it's an area I need to continue to work on, and our top order needs to do so.

"We've got to have a better foundation than what we did today, with our top three putting their hands up to bat deeper through the innings, to allow our tail to play with more freedom."

Asked about the normally explosive David Warner's tame 24 off 68 balls, Clarke replied: "I think he found it quite difficult to score, and full credit to Pakistan, I thought they played really well today.

"They bowled really well upfront then they came out and played really well with the bat, so I don't want to take anything away from Pakistan, they outplayed us."

The Australians found controlling the damp ball difficult and gave away a number of extras, and Clarke admitted he had been surprised by the dew.

Mistake

He said they had not found little evidence of it the night before and admitted that it had been a mistake to bat first.

"We trained here late last night and there was nowhere near that much dew," said the Aussie skipper.

"So it was certainly a surprise for all of us once we walked out to field today. So it was the wrong decision after winning the toss to bat first.

"We were off today, we didn't play as well as we'd have liked, no doubt about that, but two days ago we beat Pakistan in the first one-dayer in conditions we're about to go back and play in, so we can take a lot of confidence out of that."

Meanwhile, the Aussies will be concerned about fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who seemed to pick up a side injury. If he cannot bowl in the third and final game, he will be replaced by uncapped Alister McDermott.